Title: Let's Soak Up The Sun
Rating: T
Word Count: 2,700+
Characters: Roy/Jade ft. Lian, and pretty much everyone else
Summary: Water parks are great every once in a while, maybe, but they're also busier, and there's a lazy quality about being on the shore that you just can't get anywhere else.
Prompt: "Summer Sunshine" by The Corrs
For: knjsh. I started off with a ficlet with more angst as well as fluff and actually had more to do with the lyrics, but somehow it just evolved into this. I hope you still like it, though. But I think I'll save that other ficlet for a rainy day, because the world could always use more Roy/Jade…
Let's Soak Up The Sun
It's not unusual that she's the first one up, considering that she's a light sleeper and always got up early, anyway, because her mother was an early bird and would make breakfast as soon as she was awake, and the delicious aromas would make it impossible for Jade to just laze around in bed. Not that she ever lazes around, but still.
The first thing she always does is get fresh coffee brewing, because it's a necessity in this house or else they'd all be miserable in the morning.
She's wearing Roy's old high school tee that's a little fitted on him now but perfect on her, so she sleeps in it. Or, well, she pulls it on when she wakes up because she doesn't think their daughter needs to see her mother walking around naked. It's probably already inappropriate that she walks around in just a bra and panties and that shirt, but whatever. She usually ends up falling asleep without clothes because she shares a bed with Roy and that's pretty self-explanatory. And Lian always knocks first, so.
Anyway.
She pulls her hair into a ponytail and cranks up one of the burners on the stove to get breakfast started. Lian is really into scrambled eggs right now, which is kind of awesome because they're easy to make and Jade can sometimes hide stuff like spinach in it because she'll refuse to eat it otherwise.
So she gets a few strips of bacon started in a pan, mixes the eggs and chops up some mushrooms and tomatoes and onions to toss in.
A few minutes later, she feels a hand slide itself over the small of her back. "It smells good in here," Roy says, his voice gruff and right beside her ear.
"Does it look good, too?"
He gives her that smirk she's always loved as his eyes glance over her body. "Always," he answers, and then he kisses her with his thumb tracing the waistband of her panties underneath her shirt. "Good morning," he says against her lips.
"It will be when you get me coffee."
He laughs and reaches over her head to pull two mugs from the cabinet, pours coffee into both and splashes some creamer into hers without her having to ask. She doesn't understand how he can take his black all the time because it's bitter and frankly, disgusting as hell. But he always makes hers perfectly, so whatever.
When he sets the mug in her hand, he looks at her expectantly and she rolls her eyes. "Good morning, Roy." Then he smirks and steals a strip of bacon, taking a bite off the top. "Is Lian awake yet?"
"I heard her talking to Candy when I walked by," he tells her.
Jade smiles. Lian always talks to their cat, Candy (obviously Lian picked out her name, but whatever. It's cute), right after waking up. It usually takes a few minutes for Lian to shake off her sleep, anyway, and she likes to tell Candy about her dreams.
"That's good. I didn't want to have to wake her up myself, but she should eat a big breakfast before we leave."
They're spending the day at the beach because it's hot out all the time, and the last time the kids hung out altogether was on Mother's Day. Hopefully since they're going to be outside and excited to be in the water, they'll spend more energy on playing and less on arguing or trying to kill each other.
Probably not, but whatever. They'll all learn to get along eventually.
... ...
The beach isn't at all as crowded as she expected it to be, which is pretty awesome. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that a new water park opened a few miles inland just a couple of months ago and everyone went there instead. It's actually closer to the city than the beach is by about twenty minutes of driving, and it's nice (she's seen pictures from co-workers), but she knows that they'd choose the beach over it any day.
Water parks are great every once in a while, maybe, but they're also busier, and there's a lazy quality about being on the shore that you just can't get anywhere else.
Wally and Artemis and the kids are there with Dick, Zatanna and Maria, and Jade expected they'd be the first ones, since Dick is freakishly punctual and Wally's every bit as impatient and childish as the kids. Well, not childish—he's just this huge kid at heart. She thinks they all are in some way, but Wally just shows it the most often.
Anyway, they've already got beach towels spread out and umbrellas wedged into the sand, and their bags are huddled off to the side of the little area they've made. Jade knows that they'll have everything they need for today, because Pregnant Megan is freakishly organized and more assertive and demanding than usual, and she actually assigned them stuff to bring. Jade will probably never be entirely okay with people telling her what to do, but she likes that someone is attempting to organize their chaos and make sure they're prepared.
She's a mother. She likes knowing that her family will be taken care of.
(Plus, Megan's having triplets. Jade's not sure how different Martian pregnancy is from human pregnancy, but she thinks it's safer to just do what the girl wants.)
Jade takes the bag off of Lian's shoulder, and she looks up at them. "Go ahead, kiddo," Roy tells her, and Lian flashes them a smile before she takes off running towards where Jayden, Ellie and Maria are playing in the sand not too far from where their parents are set up.
"Hey guys," Wally says once they make their way over, reaching for their bags, "Did you bring the… What were you guys supposed to bring?"
"Dessert," Roy answers, "And Jade made a few of her mom's recipes."
Wally grins. "Jade bakes? That's so domestic of you."
Artemis elbows his ribs in the same second that Roy says, "West," warningly. Jade just laughs. "Ignore him. That's what I usually do," Artemis jokes (well, she's probably partly serious), hugging the both of them and then going with Wally to put their bags with the rest of their stuff.
"What's got you on the defensive?" Jade asks Roy, one eyebrow arched. He shrugs. "Roy."
"You're not who you used to be," he says kind of quietly, like he doesn't really want anyone else to hear. "It just bugs me when it's implied that you still are."
She shakes her head. "You're such a sap," she tells him, and then slips a hand over the back of his neck and pulls him in for a kiss because, whatever, as annoying as it can be sometimes, it's also incredibly hot how defensive he is of her—of her and Lian, actually. And truthfully, she's the same way when it comes to them.
She spent the larger half of her life not having to care for anything or anyone other than herself, but somehow it's never felt out of place to take care of her family.
... ...
Some idiot tries to hit on her when she goes with Dick to take all of the kids to the restrooms near the parking lot.
She's standing outside with Dick, Lian and Damian, and the guy just walks up to her and makes a stupidly inappropriate comment. It wouldn't be the first time anyone's tried to hit on her or any of them, actually, because they're all considered pretty young to be parents and obviously they're in really great shape from crime fighting. She's not trying to be conceited or anything, but she understands why some people find it hard to believe any of them have kids of their own.
But regardless if this asshole thinks Lian and Damian are hers or not, you just don't say those kinds of things when kids are present, ever. She knows they don't really understand anything coming out of his mouth, but they both look really uncomfortable, so obviously he's being suggestive enough to bother them.
And she usually tries to dismiss guys like him (pick your battles, you know?), but then she sees that her daughter is about two seconds from bursting into tears and she knows she has to do something about it.
"Okay, I'm going to stop you right there," she interrupts, grasping his wrist and twisting his arm.
"What the fu—?"
She twists his arm a little more before he can say fuck (because even though they don't know what it means, the kids know the word is bad). "I don't know who you think you are, but talking to any woman like that—let alone in front of her daughter—is a big mistake. Now leave us alone or I break your arm."
He has the gall to give her a dirty look after she releases him, but doesn't do or say anything else and just mutters under his breath as he walks away.
"Can I kick his ass?" Dick asks.
She lets out a laugh, but she knows Dick definitely would if she agreed to it. Still, she says, "He's not worth it," because it's true, though it goes unspoken that if Lian really did cry, she would've kicked that guy's ass herself. Then she sighs a little, runs her fingers through her daughter's hair. "Are you okay?" Jade asks, and Lian nods.
"Your mom's awesome," Damian tells her, and Lian laughs and nods at that, too.
... ...
Ellie somehow ropes her into helping her, Maria and Sienna make a sand castle, so she sits with them and does most of the stuff that's hard for the girls to do on their own, like flipping the buckets over so that it stays molded and shaping everything so it doesn't just look like piles of sand. Then Jayden and Cory come over and bring all of these shells and rocks that they said they found and thought would look nice on the castle, and it's kind of surprising that Ellie actually gets up and hugs her brother.
Then she somehow ends up with all of the kids around her, making different castles, and Dick, Wally, Karen, and Mal join them. They connect all of the kids' individual castles together with walls and Mal digs this massive moat around the whole thing, and they end up with this huge construction of sand.
And of course Megan was taking pictures the entire time, and she makes them huddle with the kids in front of their creation for a few shots before telling them to rinse off in the water so they can sanitize and sit down for lunch.
She doesn't even realize just how hungry she is until after she pats Lian dry, puts a sandwich in her hands and uncaps a blue Gatorade for her from the cooler.
Once Lian is all set, Jade gets up and walks away from the kids' spot (because they're all miraculously still getting along and wanted to eat together), and Roy hands her an orange Gatorade that she finishes nearly halfway in one swig. Then he hands her a paper plate with a burger fresh off Conner's portable grill (they checked beforehand to make sure the beach permitted them) and half a bag of Baked Lays poured onto it, and she takes a bite out of the burger and pops a chip into her mouth.
"If you were hungry, you should've said so sooner," Roy laughs.
She rolls her eyes, swallows and takes another gulp of her Gatorade. "I was with the kids."
He smiles at her and she rolls her eyes again and pretends to be more bothered than she really is when he steals one of her chips. "Dick told me about what happened," he goes on, and no, she's not surprised. Dick wouldn't keep something like that from him. "How's Lian?"
"I think the sand castle helped her forget," she shrugs. "It's a good thing, too. I would've hunted down that ass and killed him myself if he ruined her day."
"So would I," Roy says, and she gives him a smile because she knows he means it.
They end up eating for about half an hour before they collect the kids' trash and give them some sweets, and a few minutes after that, they hear the kids beginning to argue. She thinks this is probably the longest they've spent together without fighting, because it's been about five hours since everyone got to the beach, but still. It was a stretch, but it would've been awesome if they could've gone the whole day without any trouble.
"You made her drop it!" Jayden shouts, beginning to get up, but then Maria tugs him back down by his arm and shakes her head.
"I have more, Jay," she tells him.
"Yeah, but Lian—"
"It was an accident!" someone snaps, except it wasn't Lian. It's Damian.
Everyone kind of grows quiet, and the kids are probably oblivious to the fact that their parents are watching them.
Lian's looking at Damian with these wide eyes, but he doesn't really notice because he's staring down Jayden. "It was an accident," she finally repeats, and then leans over and puts one of her cookies on Maria's plate. "I'm still sorry, though. Have one of mine."
Damian turns to her. "You don't have to—"
"I don't mind," she tells him.
He just stares at her for a minute before shaking his head, muttering under his breath as he hands her his last cookie. She smiles at him, breaks it in half and gives him one of them, and he actually smirks a little and looks so much like his dad when he does it. Then Maria breaks the cookie Lian gave to her down the middle and hands one of the halves to Jayden, making him smile. "Um, sorry for yelling at you, Lian," Jayden finally apologizes, and Lian smiles and says that it's alright.
Then kids just start talking and laughing again like nothing ever happened, and Megan gets a little teary at the entire thing. Conner mumbles, "Why are you crying? I thought you wanted them to get along," which makes her shoot him a look, and he sighs and apologizes.
"Just our luck," Roy mutters, dropping his hand over Jade's knee and running his thumb across her skin. She looks at him. "Of all the boys to fall for our daughter…"
She laughs. "I told you that she was attracted to danger," she reminds, earning a scowl in return. "It's genetic."
"It doesn't mean I have to like it."
"Oh, you won't," she says matter-of-factly. "And you'll probably do some pretty stupid things in the future to protect her that she'll say she hates you for. Then it will have to be my job to remind her that her daddy is an idiot who just doesn't want to see his little girl hurt, and in the end, she'll love you for everything she said she hated."
He cracks a smirk, runs his hand up her thigh and over the small of her back. "You're a dozen steps into the future, as always," he tells her.
"A force of habit," she exhales, voice low, then threads their fingers together and doesn't seem to care how unlike her it sounds when she adds, "But where we are right now isn't so bad, either."
... ...
Lian is practically knocked out in Roy's arms after playing in the sun all day and Jade's exhausted just looking at her. It's probably better, though, because this way they can go to this café not too far from the shore and hopefully she'll be rested enough to shower and eat dinner without falling asleep once they get home.
They get a table right next to the window and both order tea with honey and a slice of tiramisu to split. They don't really say much as they eat, but the silence is nice and comfortable after a day like today. Lian stays passed out on Jade's lap for the most part, but then she begins to stir and blinks herself away, shifts a little and points out the window where the sun is disappearing behind the ocean horizon and the sky is a mix of purples and oranges and yellows.
"Today was fun," Lian tells them, curling against her mother, and Jade thinks she's fallen asleep again when she asks, "Can we go home now?"
Jade smiles, and Roy grasps her hand where it's sitting atop the table. "Of course, kiddo."